Officials of Denmark, which holds the rotating E-U presidency, say Poland, the largest remaining holdout among the 10 candidate states, has now accepted union proposals. The terms of the deal are not yet known, but Poland had earlier demanded an increase beyond the 40 billion dollar package the E-U was offering the candidates.
The decision means the 15-member European Union will grow to 25 in 2004, when it welcomes its largest ever number of new members.
E-U Commission President Romano Prodi hailed Friday's developments, saying expansion will bring to an end the division of Europe. He said for the first time in history the continent will become a unified entity by the free will of its people.
Meanwhile, the Greek and Turkish Cypriots have refused to sign a United Nations plan to end the 28 year division of Cyprus, a likely new E-U member state, by the end of the Copenhagen summit.
Also, Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has sharply criticized an E-U decision to delay conditional membership talks with Turkey until after December 2004, pending an E-U human rights review.
Beside Cyprus and Poland, the candidate countries are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia.